GB647075A - Improvements in or relating to loading and unloading devices for lorries and other vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

647,075. Loading and unloading vehicles; load-handling apparatus. RATCLIFF, E. J. Dec. 17, 1948, No. 172. [Classes 78 (iii) and 78 (iv)] In a loading and unloading device for vehicles of the kind comprising a pair of upright guides fixed one at each side to the tail of the vehicle, a tailboard carried by supporting members arranged to run up and down the said guides, and means for elevating the supporting members in unison so that the tailboard, when in the horizontal position, can be raised or lowered and employed as a loading or unloading platform, the tailboard is provided with castors to permit it to be used as a trolley, and means is provided for removably and pivotally connecting the tailboard to the supporting members so that the tailboard can be raised or lowered with the supporting members and readily removed from or connected to the said members at ground or near ground level, when being used as a trolley for loading or unloading purposes. As shown, the tailboard 6 is normally supported by pins 7 seated in U- members 8 fixed to the web 9a of runners 9 which are movable on rollers 17 up-and-down the interior of uprights 10 secured at opposite sides of the vehicle. The tailboard is normally held in a horizontal position by chains 25 engaging hooks 21. The runners are raised and lowered by cables 30, 31 anchored to them at 50 and connected to a winch drum 41 rotatable by a handle 45. The cable 30 passes round pulleys 27, 32 and one of a pair of pulleys 33 on a shaft 33a to an adjustable member 35 connecting it to the winch cable 36, whilst the cable 31 passes round a pulley 27 and the second of the pair of pulleys 33 to the member 35. The tailboard is provided with brackets 51 supporting castor-wheels 52 so that when the tailboard is lowered and the wheels contact the ground, the pins 7 are lifted clear of the members 8, whereby after detaching the chains 25 from the hooks 21, the tailboard with the goods thereon may be removed in the manner of a trolley. If goods carried by the vehicle are to be stacked on a platform above the floor of the vehicle, the tailboard is positioned so that its pins 7 are located in U-pieces 20 and its outer side is then supported by struts 60, the lower end of the latter being supported by pins on the U- members 8.